The invention relates to a core suitable as a support for a reel of paper, in particular of toilet paper.
In the field of paper intended for household use, in particular toilet paper and household roll towels, their presentation in the form of rolls or reels is known. The rolls are formed by winding the paper around a core, generally made from cardboard.
The choice of the cardboard actually results from a compromise sought by the manufacturers between the adaptation of the material to the mechanical stresses of manufacture and the desire to limit the cost of the end product. Specifically, it happens that these cores are subjected during manufacture of the rolls to various mechanical stresses, whether during the passage through the winder, during the packaging of the rolls in the packets, or during the stacking of the packets of rolls on pallets for transport. The material of these cores must, in particular, have good stiffness properties to withstand the loads and forces to which the rolls are subjected through their production and distribution cycle. A material that lacks sufficient strength would in fact cause deformation of the individual rolls or even collapse of the stacks of rolls on the pallets. Hence this would have a particularly harmful impact on the quality of the products obtained or on the overall production yield of these rolls.
Cardboard is a solution ideally adapted to the requirements. It also has the advantage of being relatively inexpensive.
However, this type of cardboard core cannot be disposed of easily. It would be desirable for it to be disposable in toilet bowls.
The end consumer has for a long time been accustomed to throwing the sheets of toilet paper into the toilet bowl and disposing of them by flushing. This generally causes no obstruction of the pipe, since the cellulose fiber material, also called tissue paper, constituting these sheets, disintegrates easily and rapidly in the presence of water.
However, the same operation is inapplicable for discarding the cardboard core, once the entire paper reserve has been used up. This is because cardboard is a much less absorbent material than tissue paper. It disintegrates very slowly in water and forms a plug in the toilet drain pipe, if the toilet is flushed just after it is thrown therein.
It is therefore desirable for the present invention to solve the problem raised by the prior art and, in particular, to propose a core that disintegrates easily in water.